March 11, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 24 Wake Forest baseball team loaded the bases twice, but were unable to come up with a timely hit and ended up stranding 12 base runners in a 3-0 loss to No. 4 North Carolina Saturday afternoon at Hooks Stadium. North Carolina (12-2, 1-1 ACC) starter Daniel Bard retired nine of the first 10 Demon Deacons (13-4, 1-1 ACC), but ran into trouble in the fourth inning. Trailing 2-0, junior All-American Matt Antonelli walked and moved into scoring position on freshman Allan Dykstra's one-out single -- the first hit off Bard of the afternoon. Sophomore Brett Linnenkohl then grounded out before redshirt junior Dan Rosaia reached base after being hit. Junior Brian Shust quickly fell behind, but the right fielder belted Bard's 0-2 offering to deep left field. Mike Cavasinni raced back to the wall, reached up and pulled back what would have been the go-ahead grand slam. Bard allowed just one hit over 6.0 scoreless innings to improve to 3-0. The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and hit three Demon Deacons. Wake Forest made some noise off the North Carolina bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. Antonelli opened the inning with a single off Tar Heel reliever Jonathan Hovis. North Carolina summoned southpaw Matt Cox to face the left-handed hitting Dykstra. Cox got Dykstra to ground out, but Antonelli moved to second and quickly stole third. After Cox plunked Linnenkohl, the Tar Heels called on Andrew Carignan and he struck out Rosaia, but walked Shust to load the bases. Carignan fell behind Wake Forest pinch hitter Brendan Enick 2-0, but was able to escape the inning after Enick grounded out.
The Deacons did advance a runner into scoring position in the ninth with one out, but Carignan got freshman Dustin Hood to ground out before striking out Antonelli to end the game. The save was Carignan's second of 2006. Wake Forest starting pitcher Brad Kledzik (2-1) was the hard luck loser. The freshman, making his first career ACC start, kept the Deacons in the game. The righty went a career-best 7.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs on five hits. Kledzik fanned two and walked one. Junior Josh Ellis tossed 2.0 scoreless innings of relief. Tar Heel designated hitter Jay Cox went 3-for-3 with an infield RBI single in the sixth, while Josh Horton and Seth Williams added sacrifice flies in the third and fourth, respectively. Wake Forest returns to action tomorrow afternoon with the third and final game of the series against North Carolina. Junior Charlie Mellies will take the hill for the Demon Deacons. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. -- WakeForestSports.com -- |
In The Polls |
